Ellman quoted on family law guidebook in 'The Washington Times'


Professor Ira Ellman, of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, is quoted in a column on a legal study on family dissolution in the March 31 edition of The Washington Times.

In the column, reporter Cheryl Wetzstein writes that few court cases have referenced the Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution, a 1,000 page detailed analysis that sets out the official position of the American Law Institute, possibly because they find the Principles "too progressive." The Principles, published in 2002, provide guidance to courts and legislatures for an equitable way to break up the new, diverse, relationships in American families, including unmarried and same-sex couples.

In the article, Ellman, who was Chief Reporter for the Principles and senior author of a leading text on family laws, states that he does see the guidebook's influence in family laws in California, Ohio, Arizona and Canada. In the future, Ellman states, the principles will seem "quaintly timid" - "half measures that we will by then have long since past."

Read the article here.

Janie Magruder, Jane.Magruder@asu.edu
(480) 727-9052
Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law